DTU – Small is beautiful

This compelling document focuses on attention to detail, hence its apt title, ‘small is beautiful’. This intriguing e-book is all about nanoscale imaging research and within that, the fascinating field of electron microscopy

This analysis lifts the lid on nanoscale imaging research, which is certainly a rapidly growing in the view of the author, Professor Jakob Birkedal Wagner who is Scientific Director of the Center for Electron Nanoscopy at DTU Cen, Technical University of Denmark.

Within the field of electron microscopy, several developments have improved the performance of instrumentation, underlying its significance as an extremely versatile characterisation tool for nanostructures, the author points out.

Probing nanoscale materials with high energy electrons includes morphological and crystallographic information on the nanoscale, plus elemental, chemical and plasmonic mapping and responses, the author explains. Added to this, we learn that electron microscopy can map both electric and magnetic fields at the nanoscale level.

Amongst the many profound insights offered, we discover that Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) technique is based on the principle of the electron beam behaving as an electromagnetic wave.

We also find out something about the compelling story of the Center for Electron Nanoscopy at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Cen), which was inaugurated in 2007 following a generous donation from the A. P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation.

Furthermore, we are told that DTU Cen was set up as a state-of-the-art electron microscopy (EM) facility, boasting a suite of microscopes housed in a high specification building that only a handful of other labs worldwide can surpass.

Today, DTU Cen employs 17 researchers (including PhD students and postdocs.), plus seven technical and administrative staff. In closing, it’s worth mentioning that the mission of DTU Cen is to ensure a balance between advanced research, teaching and training, as well as fostering collaborations with both national and international partners.

The work and background of DTU Cen is indeed a fascinating one and I hope you enjoy the wonderful journey that this e-book takes you on.